Home Office

Asylum: Finance

Baroness Lister of Burtersett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to publish the outcome of the consultation on reforming support for failed asylum seekers; and whether they will publish a summary of the responses to that consultation.

Lord Bates: The response to the consultation was published on 5 November 2015 and can be found at:. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-bill-part-5-support-for-certain-categories-of-migrant

Merseyside Police: Horses

Lord Fearn: To ask Her Majesty’s Government who took the decision to disband the mounted section connected to Merseyside Police.

Lord Bates: The deployment and use of police animals are operational decisions for chief constables which are rightly made by local forces.

Demonstrations: Students

Lord Rogan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how much policing the student march on 4 November in London cost.

Lord Bates: The Home Office has not made an assessment of the costs of policing this protest. It is an operational decision for the Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis, working with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime to determine the levels of resources required to manage such events.

Visas: Overseas Students

Lord Teverson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of halving the maximum visa refusal rate on the Highly Trusted Sponsor status given to higher education institutions in the UK.

Lord Teverson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are considering making further reductions in the maximum university visa refusal rate in relation to Highly Trusted Sponsor status.

Lord Bates: Highly Trusted Sponsor status was replaced with Tier 4 Sponsor status in April 2015.The maximum permitted visa refusal rate for Tier 4 sponsors was reduced from 20% to 10% in November 2014 to make sure that the colleges and universities who directly benefit from student migration help prevent abuse, and to ensure that institutions are only offering places to genuine students with an appropriate level of English.Since the new rate was introduced, visa applications from students wishing to study at the UK’s world-class universities have continued to rise. Latest figures show that visa applications from university students are now 17 per cent higher than they were in 2010, and visa applications to Russell Group universities are 33 per cent higher than in 2010.We will continue to keep the visa refusal rate under review but we have no imminent plans to change the maximum permitted rate.

Department for International Development

International Assistance

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the proportion of aid funding which is channelled to large international agencies compared to that channelled to local non-governmental organisations.

Baroness Verma: UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) channelled through non-governmental organisations is set out in the table below. DFID is currently conducting the Civil Society Partnership Review, which is considering future funding arrangements.2014 data will be published on the DFID website as National Statistics on Thursday 3rd December 2015.Channel Code Description2013 ODA (£ millions)% of Total UK ODANGO (where country base is undefined)£150,8951%Internationally-based (non-UK) NGO*£362,6963%UK-based NGO*£662,3076%Developing country-based NGO£178,3132%*Many international and UK-based NGOs have significant local developing country footprints.